Must we believe the trinity?

by   Alan Day                                                                                                                                             Vol. XIX, No. 1, January 2006

Question: The idea of the Trinity is confusing. Is it necessary to believe it to be a Christian?

Answer: The doctrine of the Trinity is the truth that distinguishes real Christianity from every other religion. It states there is one God who eternally exists and subsists in three co-equal and co-essential Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is not tri-theism, for there is an essential unity in the godhead; nor is it "modalism;" for the Persons are not mere temporal and economic manifestations of God, but are eternal, non-sequential, and essential.

The Baptist Faith and Message (1925) states that God "is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit." The 1963 revision states the "eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit," and the 2000 revision adds the word "triune:" "The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit." The trend is toward a stronger statement.

What the BF&M is arguing for, and what Christian creeds through the centuries have stated, is that God would exist as a Trinity even had He never created a universe. The idea of three-ness is not a temporal way of talking about God necessitated by our spiritual opacity or dullness. God is not "lisping," to use one of Calvin's pretty phrases, when He speaks of Himself in Trinitarian terms. The Trinity is not “kindergarten teaching” that we can be graduated from as we mature in our understanding. Gregory Nazianzen put it well, "When I say 'God,' I mean Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

The doctrine further states there is equality in the Trinity. The Son is as much God as the Father, and the Holy Spirit is equal in essence to Father and Son. There are no temporal or sequential distinctions to be made among the Persons of the Trinity.

As the Christian cults (Mormonism especially) continue to identify themselves with historic Christianity by obfuscating and misrepresenting their theological positions, and as Islam grows at an alarming rate, it is increasingly important for pastors to preach and teach the doctrine of the Trinity. We cannot excuse ourselves from this responsibility simply because the doctrine exhausts our intellect. We must state the doctrine clearly and succinctly, distinguish the historic Christian position from heretical aberrations, and then lead the church to worship and adore the God of infinite beauty and majesty who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

[Reprinted from the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger, 7 April 2005.]